ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

Acquisitions

The Hancock Family Papers, the business papers of Boston merchant Thomas Hancock and his nephew John, the revolutionist, have been acquired by the Baker Library at Harvard University. The papers were on loan to the library from the Historic Genealogical Society and were acquired in honor of Mary Chatfield, former librarian of Baker Library. The collection, which also includes the papers of publisher Daniel Henchman (father-in-law of John Hancock) and the business records of Peter Faneuil, contains a range of information on the social, economic, and material culture of colonial New England, complementing other collections on 18th-century life in the library’s Historical Collections Department.

The preparation of photographer Harold Edgerton’s papers for access has been completed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Archives. The core of the collection documents Edgerton’s research activities in his laboratory at MIT, his research and development work for the U.S. military in World War II, and his field work applying flash photography and sonar techniques to underwater exploration. His laboratory notebooks are a consistent record of his research at the institute from 1930 to 1990 and are a valuable resource for learning how advances in science and technology are made. They illustrate through notes, diagrams, data, and photographs the step-by-step evolution of his ideas.

The archives of the National Network of Hispanic Women, a national resource center that links professional women with one another and strives to provide role models for young Hispanics, have been acquired by the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives (CEMA), part of the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Special Collections. The collection records the accomplishments of Chicanas in the areas of education, politics, and the arts, and provides a substantial addition to the Chicano/ Latino component of CEMA.

A gift of 573 historical children's books; 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century finely printed books; and modern works on the history of children’s literature has been received by the University of Arizona from Margaret Maxwell, recently retired professor of library science, who taught award-winning cataloging classes. High spots in the collection include a representative sampling of late-19th-century textbooks, several 19th-century chapbooks, a 1650 Elzevir imprint, and an Isaiah Thomas printing of the Holy Bible dated 1793.

A collection of 25,000 items related to the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia and its successor, the Virginia League of Women Voters, has been accessioned by the Virginia State Library and Archives and is now available for use by researchers and historians. The collection was originally given to the library in 1942 by Ida Mae Thompson, a clerk with the Works Progress Administration Historical Records Survey. It contains correspondence, organizational records, newspaper clippings, buttons, postcards, and other items documenting the League’s efforts to win the vote, as well as to pass child labor law reform and food and drug regulations.